WEST NORRITON — The Eye Institute of Salus University and Norristown Area School District (NASD) offered free health screenings for all of the district’s kindergarten registrants Wednesday evening.

Children registered to start kindergarten in the fall in the Norristown area were invited to Norristown Area High School to receive free vision, hearing and physical examinations from Salus physician assistants, students and their instructors.

Giselle Knoblauch, a nurse in the district, said the free screenings are designed to identify students who may have vision or hearing problems before they begin school.

“It provides opportunity for families to find out if their student has a vision or hearing difficulty prior to starting school,” Knoblauch said. “It would give them a head start and make sure they don’t fall behind.”

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The pre-kindergarten screenings came out of discussions between the Norristown nursing staff and administration and Salus University doctors and nurses. For the past year and a half, Salus University and NASD have hosted a pilot vision care program designed to help the district’s elementary students without vision insurance.

The pilot program, which was financed by Salus University’s Looking Out for Kids charity fund and aimed at giving free vision care to underprivileged children, brought free eye screenings to Norristown students who would not be able to afford proper care or the cost of eyeglasses. So far, after a year of service, more than 100 Norristown students have received two free pairs of glasses, one pair to take home and one pair that stays in school.

The work done to help students receive proper vision care was the fruit of a partnership between the Salus University doctors and Norristown’s nurses, said Sue Oleszewski, Salus University’s chief of staff.

“We take our lead from the school nurses,” Oleszewski said. “They do their vision screenings and, using their criteria, identify which students need more comprehensive care. It’s extra work for them but they are thrilled to help their kids and are happy to have this extra burden if their kids succeed because of it.

“It’s a great service for our students and their family,” Knoblauch said. “All of the nurses are excited to have this opportunity available for students who otherwise wouldn’t have the glasses.”

The seeds of the program began to sprout when Norristown Councilwoman Mary DeSouza introduced Oleszewski to Knoblauch back in 2013.

“Our clinical facility is in Philadelphia, and Norristown is not exactly right around the corner. We talked about how the charity could get those Norristown kids in need to our facilities on our dime,” Oleszewski said. “So we started asking, ‘Can we take our clinical care on the road and meet the need there?’”

After multiple planning sessions last year, Salus brought equipment to Gotwals Elementary School and set up a mini-eye clinic. Louis Trarillo, a Salus University doctor with a residency in pediatric care, visited Gotwals once a week for six weeks and found 95 percent of the children the nurses identified needed glasses.

After helping those 59 children at Gotwals, Norristown and Salus decided to take the mobile clinic to each of the district’s elementary schools for the 2013-2014 school year.

“All of this is really about the intersection of academic success and being able to see well,” Oleszewski said. “You can’t begin to succeed academically if you can’t read well or be comfortable seeing the board at a distance.”

The Looking Out for Kids charity funds these vision care programs through individual and corporate donations. Oleszewski said the program at Norristown Area High School was made possible by donations from Norristown community members and local businesses including Genuardi’s, J.P. Mascaro and Sons, the TD Bank Foundation and Conicelli Toyota, which recently donated $5,000 to the fund.

At the April 28 Norristown area school board meeting, board members began discussions about entering into a contract with Salus to continue the vision care program for the 2014-2015 school year at no cost to the district.

Superintendent Janet Samuels recommended the school board approve the agreement, citing the fact that 24 percent of school-age children have vision problems, which can be a detriment to academic success.

No vote was taken on the recommendation, but board president Pamela Assenmacher indicated the board would continue to discuss the contract and hopefully put it to a vote in an upcoming meeting.